Master Dragneel: Those 7 Long Years
by Anaklusmos15
Summary: What if Natsu couldn't go to Tenrou because he found his mate and had to take care of her? What if Wendy and Gajeel stayed behind as well? Answer to those questions here!
1. Chapter 1

**Master Dragneel: Those 7 Long Years**

 **Chapter 1: An Unexpected Decision**

 _Fairy Tail Guild Hall, Magnolia, Fiore Year December 1_ _st_ _, X784_

It was a pleasant winter afternoon in Magnolia, there was no snow on the ground yet and the sun was out. The Fairy Tail guild hall was its regular rambunctious self, yet there was no guild brawl happening. The noise was a clamor of mages attempting to get to the job board. The only one who were confused with the reason for the ruckus were the new-comers Lucy, Wendy, and Charla.

"What's with all the rush for jobs today? Are people trying to get extra money for holiday shopping?" asked an always curious Lucy.

"It is nice to see those ruffians not fighting one-another for petty reasons today" said Charla.

"You'll find out tomorrow guys. Just be patient".

"Mirajane, do you know what this is about? Does this have anything with what the master has to announce tomorrow?" asked Lucy.

"Yep, you'll all find out tomorrow." came the reply from Mirajane.

 _The Next Day at Noon_

"Listen up everyone. The master has an announcement for all of you." spoke Titania, Queen of the Fairies. Otherwise known as Erza Scarlet.

On stage with Master Makarov, were the S Class mages of Fairy Glidarts, Erza Scarlet and Mirajane Strauss.

"Alright everyone, the time has come! Today I will be announcing the participants of the S Class trials that will take place on our holy ground Tenrou Island. Strength, courage, passion. Those are the things that I looked for in this years' S Class potentials." was the beginning of the speech from Makarov.

"So this is why the rest of the guys were scrambling for jobs yesterday. They wanted to be picked for the trials." Whispered Lucy to Wendy.

"Yeah. I wonder what its' going to be like!" exclaimed an excited Wendy.

"The S Class potentials are: Cana Alberona! Gray Fullbuster! Elfman Strauss! Juvia Lockser! Levy Mcgarden! Freed Justine! Max Alors! and finally, Mest Gryder! Congratulations to you all. You have one week to choose a partner and be at Port Hargeon for our departure. If you are late, then you will be disqualified." finished Makarov as he listed the candidates.

"Oh and I know what you all must be thinking, what about Natsu, where is he and why isn't he a part of the trials. Well let me tell you something unexpected and surprising. Natsu came to me yesterday and asked to not be chosen for the trials this year. I was just as shocked as all of you are right now. He said that it was something important and that we would all find out today as to why he is not taking part in the trials." explained Master Makarov.

"What could be so important that flame-brain choose to miss out on the trials?" asked a dejected Gray, that Natsu hadn't been chosen because of him being weak but because he didn't want to take part in the first place.

It was at that moment that the doors to the guild hall opened, and the chilly air of that December afternoon came rushing in. In the doorway in his black vest, white pants, and scarf was none other than Natsu Dragneel himself. He wasn't alone however. There was someone with him. A woman. This woman was not like any other. She was a total knockout. She had Makarov, Gildarts, Wakaba and Macao, all fainting from nosebleeds. All the other men had their jaws on the floor with amazement of her beauty. Even the girls eyed her with jealousy. It was non-other than Ultear Milkovich.

Gray was shocked at how similar she looked to Ur.

"Hey gramps! How ya doing?" asked a jubilant Natsu.

"N-Na-Natsu who is this?" asked Makarov struggling to regain his composure.

"Oh, this is my mate. This is Ultear Milkovich." replied Natsu while wrapping his arms around her.

This caused Wendy to squeal with joy and Gajeel to crack a smile. Everyone else was confused to their reactions and questioned it.

"You guys, for a dragon or in this case a dragon-slayer, finding your mate means the one you love and the one you want to spend the rest of your life with. If the dragon has mated their mate, that means that all other potential partners are not even thought about. The love between a dragon and their mate is final. Nothing could separate the two of them. This is the first thing that our dragons taught us about. Its so wonderful that Natsu-nii found his mate!" explained an ecstatic Wendy.

"What the squirt forgot to explain is the darker side of dragon-slayer mating cause its not all about the love that a dragon or dragon-slayer has for their potential mate. If they haven't expressed their love for their mate, and their mate is in love with someone else or is at the very least not interested in them, then the dragon-slayer will not be able to stop loving that person. They would have to go through the pain of watching their mate go through life with someone else rather than with them. That however pulls them into a deep depression. And now that the two are mated, means that the chick has her soul linked with Salamander. So if he dies, she dies, and if it happens the other way around, then Salamander won't die right away, but he would take actions trying to kill himself." added-on Gajeel.

Everyone was shocked at the explanation from the two dragon-slayers. The girls thought this was romantic, while guys were sympathetic to the male dragon-slayers as this meant only one woman for them.

"Natsu is this true? Are you sure you want to take that commitment this early in life?" was the concern from Makarov.

"Yes, gramps it is. I've been with Ultear since Galuna Island. And not only with what Wendy and the metal-head said being true, but with Ultears' condition I have to be sure." said a massively grinning Natsu.

This time it was Erza who spoke. "What condition?"

"Before Ultear answers that I need to tell you some stuff about her. From right after Galuna Island we've been together, and since just after the Tower of Heaven she left the guild she was secretly a part of, Grimoire Heart. She had to leave because she realized what she wanted with Grimoire Hearts' goals were no longer necessary. It is only now that she had the courage to come to the guild hall and meet all of you." explained Natsu.

"I did some bad things with Grimoire Heart, which I hope you all can forgive me for. Mostly you Erza Scarlet. It was me who acted as Zeref and corrupted Jellal. My guild master thought if he could control Jellal to revive Zeref, we could accomplish our goals." Ultear said very timidly.

Without thinking, Erza requiped into her Purgatory armor and flew at Ultear. Natsu however, swatted Erza away as if it was nothing. This shocked Erza and everyone else.

"I thought you would be accepting of this Erza, accepting of the fact that Ultear is trying to make-up for her actions. No-one at Fairy Tail has a clean past. All of us have something that makes us cry when we remember it." exclaimed a surprisingly calm Natsu.

Natsu continued saying "Ultear has had no contact with Grimoire Heart since she left and never plans on having any contact with them ever again. What I am about to let everyone know is a very happy occasion for me, but if you can't accept that Ultear is here to stay, then I suggest you leave as I don't want you to be a part of this if you can't do that."

This put everything into perspective for everyone and Makarov interrupted Natsu to ask Ultear a question.

"My dear what color and where do you want your guild mark? If you are a mage and Natsu says you are here to say, then you should join us."

"On my back, in purple please" came the reply from the time mage.

After the guild mark was applied, Makarov asked Natsu to tell everyone why he couldn't take part in the S Class trials.

"Well like we said Ultear has a condition. The condition is: She's Pregnant!" Shouted Natsu.

For a moment everything was silent. Then Gildarts broke it.

"I can't believe my boy scored with such a hottie!" he said while hugging Natsu and crying.

This broke everyone out of their stupor. After the pandemonium settled down, everyone started to congratulate the couple.

Gajeel shared a look with Wendy and the both of them nodded.

Gajeel then cleared his throat to make another announcement that day.

"To anyone who was considering Wendy or myself as a partner, we have to make ourselves unavailable in order to help Salamander and his mate take care of the youngling. This is probably the first dragon youngling in a long time so we have to ensure its safety."

Everyone was shocked at how invested the other two dragon-slayers were in the safety of Natsu's child.

"Alright everyone lets party to celebrate the announcement of the S Class trials, the new member, the relationship of Natsu and Ultear, and the little one on the way!" screamed an extremely happy Makarov.

While everyone partied, Natsu got with his team and spoke to them.

"Hope you guys understand why I'm doing this. As a dragon-slayer, I need to make sure my mate is fine during this phase."

"We understand Natsu. I just never thought you'd be the first one of us to have kids." said a pleasant Lucy.

"Yeah man, I'm just bummed that I won't get to kick your ass to make it to S Class." said a slightly drunk Gray.

"Thanks so much for understanding. Well its time for us to go, its getting late." said Natsu.

"Aren't you going to talk to Erza?" asked a confused Lucy.

"Not right now, even though she didn't know, she attacked Ultear so I'm still pissed at her." said Natsu.

With that, Natsu got Ultear from the second floor where she was resting, picked her up and took her home.

As the two of them were busy preparing for the baby, neither of them managed to go to the guild hall before the Tenrou crew left. The S Class candidates had found their partners. Levy had Jet, Elfman had Evergreen, Cana had Lucy, Gray had Loke/Leo, Juvia had Lissana, Freed had Biksalow, Max had Droy, and Mest ended up choosing Reedus.

When Natsu and Ultear got to the guild hall everyone had already left and as was tradition every year, no one went home until the doors opened and the newly crowned S Class mage walked through the door.

Little did they know of the events taking place on Tenrou Island and who would be the one to walk through the door next.

 **Hey guys welcome to** _ **Master Dragneel: Those 7 Long Years!**_ **I hope you guys liked the first chapter. I've always wanted to write one of those Natsu becomes the master stories and I finally got around to writing one of them.**

 **The upload schedule should be once a week. I can't say for sure when the next update will be, but it will be on a day between Sept. 4** **th** **– Sept. 6** **th** **. Starting Sept. 12** **th** **, most updates will happen on Wednesdays.**

 **Once again, I hope you all enjoyed the story so far, and please let me know of anything I can do to make it better.**

 **Thanks for stopping by, see you all next time.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Master Dragneel: Those 7 Long Years**

 **Chapter 2: Gains and Losses**

 _Fairy Tail Guild Hall, Magnolia, Fiore December 8_ _th_ _, X784_

It had been a day since the Tenrou group had left the Hargeon port for Tenrou Island. The guild members who'd stayed behind, were talking about their picks for the next S Class mage of Fairy Tail.

"I say its gonna be Gray. He's been working hard lately" said a slight drunk Macao.

"No way! Its gonna be our Cana. She's been picked each time for the last few years so I bet its gonna be her" disputed Wakaba who himself was slightly drunk.

"I think Levy-san has what it takes to become the next S Class mage. She's very smart and can use that to take down someone more powerful" pointed out Kinanna.

"Don't count out Freed and Bickslow guys. Those guys were in a team with Laxus and have trained together quite a bit. I'd say Freed has the best chance because of how long he's been in a team with Bickslow" added in Natsu.

It was at that moment, that someone barged into the guild hall. Said person was about 4.5 feet in height, had pink hair, was about 13 years old and was a girl. The girl was in pretty bad shape. She had cuts and bruises all over her, she then dropped unconscious due to her exhausted state.

"Meredy!" screamed a worried Ultear.

"I'll help her" said Wendy as Happy, Carla and Pantherlilly helped her take Meredy up to the infirmary.

Once Wendy and the exceed came back, everyone swarmed her asking for news.

"We're going to need Porlyusica's help if we want to heal her up completely. I did what I could. I-I'm sorry!" yelped out Wendy.

"Its alright Wendy. We know you did your best. Why don't you get some rest while Alzack and Bisca go and get Porlyusica" said Natsu.

The two gun mages nodded when the doors were blown off their hinges.

Standing in the smoke were two mages. One was well built with some muscle, a crazy, deranged look on his face with wild blonde hair, and the other had a slick, black hair, was extremely chubby, wore only a speedo, and had a doll in his hand.

"Zancrow and Kain!? What are you doing here!? Were you the ones who hurt Meredy!?" asked an enraged Ultear.

"Yeah we were. That little brats' been running for days trying to get to you to warn you about our attack on Tenrou Island. She was scared you would be there and that you would get hurt." replied Zancrow cockily.

"WHAT! TENROU ISLAND IS UNDER ATTACK!" screamed the Fairy Tail members.

"Yeah. Apparently Zeref is on the Island and the rest of the guild has gone there to pick him up. Fact we get to destroy Fairy Tail is just icing on the cake." continued Zancrow.

Natsu was about to jump at Zancrow when Ultear stopped him and started to whisper to him.

"Natsu, I read somewhere that the only way for a dragon-slayer to beat a god-slayer is for the dragon-slayer to empty themselves of their magic, eat the god-slayers' magic and combine the two. Meaning you have to put everything into your attacks and then eat his because he's a Fire God-Slayer" explained Ultear.

"Thanks a lot, Ultear. You just made it more fun to beat the guy." said Natsu as he kissed Ultear before jumping at Zancrow.

" **Fire Dragons Iron Fist! Fire Dragons Sword Horn! Fire Dragons Talon! Fire Dragons Wing Attack! Fire Dragons Roar!** And to finish you off: **Dragon-Slayer Secret Arts: Flame Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!** " said Natsu as he launched attack after attack at Zancrow.

Being the Fire God-slayer he is, Zancrow shrugged off those attacks. What he didn't know was that Natsu in just a few short minutes had emptied his container by putting all his powers into those attacks. So, when he sent Natsu his own attack, he was very surprised.

"I hardly felt a thing you weakling dragon-slayer. I am Zancrow a Fire God-Slayer. Don't you know that gods are better than dragons? Here let me show you. **Fire Gods Bellow!** " spoke the now overconfident Zancrow.

To his shock, Natsu ate the attack and swallowed. Seconds later, Natsu sent back the attack.

" **Dragon-Gods Roaring Bellow!** " yelled out Natsu.

Zancrow was so surprised at what had just happened, that he wasn't able to react in time to avoid the attack or even brace for it. The combination attack was so powerful, that Zancrow was defeated. Natsu however, promptly collapsed from exhaustion from having used so much power.

As Natsu defeated Zancrow, the rest of the guild was battling with Kain. Ultear let the main combatants how Kain's magic worked and how to defeat him. All that needed to be done was to avoid him getting close enough to you to get a piece of your hair. With that plan in mind, Gajeel kept firing Iron Dragon Roars at Kain, while Laki, Macao, Wakaba, Alzack and Bisca used their ranged magic to constantly bombard Kain with attacks, non-of them letting up. Wendy used her support magic to help their attacks be sent out faster and have more power behind them.

Due to the sheer number of attacks hitting him and the power behind each one, Kain was also brought down relatively quickly, as he couldn't do much to defend himself either.

"Yes! We beat them!" exclaimed the duo of Wakaba and Macao.

"Yeah but what were they doing here? Didn't one of them say something about how their guild is attacking Tenrou Island?" asked an increasingly worried Bisca.

"I don't know what Zancrow was talking about. As far as I know, Grimoire Heart had no plans to attack Fairy Tail or Tenrou Island. It must have something to do with Zeref. That's the only reason I can see why Hades would go after the Island and Fairy Tail at the same time like that.

"We have to go help them!" shouted most of the Fairy Tail members.

"What will we be able to do?" asked an equally worried Ultear. "Zancrow and Kain have been tracking Meredy for at least a few days. Which means that Hades would've told them a few days ago before Meredy ran off to find me. By the time we get to Hargeon, find a boat that will take us there, and get there, it could very well be over. And considering the power levels of who's left of the 7 Kin of Purgatory, I think Fairy Tail should be able to win. You guys said that Fairy Tail is a family, and family trusts one another and protects each other. If that's true, then against whoever's left, the Fairy Tail members on the island will succeed."

"Ultear's right guys. If 4 of the 7 Kin are here right now, then they don't have much to work with against the mages we have on Tenrou. I say we sit tight and wait for them to come back." agreed Natsu.

So that's what Fairy Tail ended up doing. They drank and talked with one another until a few hours later the doors burst open once again. It was the rune knights lead by Lahar and accompanied by Mest.

"Fairy Tail! The rune knights have come to report that the members of your guild who were on Tenrou Island have been killed by the dragon Acnologia. The council requests that you submit the name of a new master by the end of the month if you do not wish to get disbanded."

"What! There's no way that they could've been killed!" Said a grief stricken Bisca.

"Yeah what about Grimoire Heart? What happened to them? Surely those two guilds could've stopped this dragon together?" asked Wakaba.

"Fairy Tail had defeated Grimoire Heart before Acnologia came and destroyed the island in one attack. We are sorry for your loss good day."

"Wait a minute! What's Mest doing with you guys!?" Shouldn't he be on the island as well?" asked a confused Natsu.

"I was never a part of Fairy Tail. I had altered everyone's memories to make it seem like I was so that I could infiltrate the guild and help the council disband it. Unfortunately, I found nothing so unless you don't name a master within the next month, we won't be disbanding you." replied a stoic Mest.

Natsu was about to launch an attack at the rune knights but was stopped by Ultear.

"Don't Natsu. We'll just give them reason to shut the guild down if we do." said the sad and somber Ultear.

With that, the rune knights left the guild hall taking Zancrow and Kain with them. It took several hours for anything but sobbing to be heard in the guild hall.

"What are we doing!" yelled Natsu.

"Gramps and the others wouldn't want us to be sad! We should be smiling and partying to remember the great times we had with them, and then continue living on in their memory!"

After that speech, the rest of the guild perked up and started to agree with Natsu. Ultears' voice was next.

"We need to choose a master now that Master Makarov has perished with those on Tenrou Island."

"I-I-I think it should be Natsu" spoke a shy Wendy. "I mean he managed to make us smile despite what's happened. That's something that Master could do. He's also one of the strongest here."

One-by-one, the rest of the guild started to agree with her. Soon, everyone even a begrudging Gajeel was voicing their agreement and vote for Natsu to be Master.

"Are you guys sure? What if I mess up?" asked a reluctant Natsu.

"We'll all be here for you if you need help. We know you'll do a good job." said a supportive and encouraging Ultear who had the rest of the guild agreeing with her.

After taking a few moments to think, Natsu replied.

"I'll do it. Thank you all for choosing me. I won't let you down."

With that, the whole guild erupted in cheers.

"Master Natsu! Master Natsu!"

"W-W-What's with all the noise?" came a voice from the top of the stairs.

"Meredy?!" yelled Ultear as she ran up the stairs to hug the young girl.

"Ultear?! You're OK!"

"How'd you get away from Grimoire Heart?"

"I linked everyone on board and then kicked one of the guards in his private area"

The guild sweat-dropped at that.

"When everyone recovered, Master Hades sent Kain and Zancrow after me. I've been running from them for the last 3 days."

"Well you're safe now, Zancrow and Kain have been taken by the Magic Council, and according to them, Fairy Tail defeated the rest of them on Tenrou Island. The Fairy Tail members on Tenrou were however taken out by the Dragon of the Apocalypse Acnologia." said Ultear while still holding Meredy in her embrace.

"I'm so sorry" said a sad Meredy to the Fairy Tail guild.

"Meredy, now that Grimoire Heart has been disbanded, I'm guessing you have no where to go, you wanna join Fairy Tail?" asked Natsu.

"Are you guys really going to let me join?"

"Sure we will! You risked your life to try and help us even if you weren't able to help, of course we'd want you. Besides, Ultear would have my hide if I didn't."

"If you're sure then I'll join."

"Great! Kinanna, can you get Meredy her guild mark?"

"Sure! Where do you want it?" asked an egger Kinanna.

"I'll get it in pink on my left breast" said a now uplifted Meredy.

After Meredy got her guild mark, Natsu jumped up to the banister where Master Makarov sat just days earlier and started to speak.

"I know we have lost a lot of friends and family today. I know we all feel hurt and as if we can't do anything. But we can't do that. Remember that they would want us to live on for them. And we will! Because We Are Fairy Tail!"

With that everyone started to cheer.

"Natsu to keep up with how much the council requires each guild to pay, we're going to need you to promote at least two people to S Class. Especially since you can't take any S Class missions yourself." said Ultear.

After thinking about it for a few minutes Natsu announced his decision.

"Well I can think of two people who should be able to handle S Class missions. They are: Gajeel since he was an S Class in Phantom Lord, and Meredy, since according to Ultear, being a member of the 7 Kin meant you were at least an S Class mage."

Natsu's choice were meet with great applause by the guild and the two aforementioned mages were shocked but accepted the responsibility.

"Meredy just for your age, I want you to go with Gajeel on S Class missions for two years. After that, you can take them on your own." said a motherly Ultear.

The whole guild started to laugh at the pouting Meredy. After that, the whole guild started to celebrate the naming of the two new S Class mages. And they partied into the night.

Little did they know, that there would by problems other than dark mages to come in the following years.

 **There it is guys, the second chapter. Sorry for being a week late, I thought I would have time to upload in between moving back to university, but I didn't so I'm sorry for making you wait for so long. From here on out, it should be a chapter every week on Wednesday.**

 **So, for those who asked about how Fairy Tail could've beaten Fairy Tail without the 3 dragon slayers, here is how they did it.**

 **Kain, Zancrow, Meredy and Ultear weren't on the island, so that takes a majority of the 7 Kin out. Zoldeo, Rustyrose and Azuma are beaten as they were in cannon. Makarov isn't injured by Zancrow on Tenrou here so he has more power to beat Hades with the help of the rest of the guild. Hades however is much stronger in this version so it takes most of the guild to take him down. Because they weren't that good in a fight, Max, Droy, Reedus and Jet were the ones who destroyed the Grimoire Heart in the ship. Laxus didn't show up on Tenrou (Natsu still has to get Lightning Flame Dragon Mode.) Bluenote and Gildarts still have their battle.**

 **Fairy Tail due to Hades being stronger, still took a lot of damage and as a result, weren't able to escape Acnologia.**

 **I'm going to put a poll on my profile for the name of Natsu and Ultears' child. The name will also have the gender next to it. Please go and vote for your choice.**

 **Also, should Ultear adopt Meredy and have her as the "first" child for Natsu and Ultear. If she becomes the one of Natsu and Ultears' children, she and Wendy will have a sisterly relationship. If she isn't she and Wendy will become the new Erza and Mira/ Gray and Natsu. Let me know which one you prefer.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed the story so far, and please let me know of anything I can do to make it better.**

 **Thanks for stopping by, see you all next time.**


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